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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Locked Out: The NBA

While the media has covered the NBA lockout, it has failed to gather as much attention as the NFL Lockout that recently ended without any games being canceled. This is due to a few different reasons:

1. The NBPA is not as strong as a bargaining unit as the NFLPA.
2. The NBPA has not done as good a job winning the battle in the public square.

While the NFLPA immediately went on the offensive with a unified voice to the public, NBA players have wasted time with a faux decertification threat, and some of its members have entertained the idea of playing overseas. Neither of the two have helped their cause. It would seem that the NBPA would want to hammer the NBA owners with the fact that they are asking for major concessions from the players at a time when the league is making record profits.

Albeit, there are teams who are losing money every year, but that is mainly due to poor ownership coupled with a bad economy. This situation could be rectified by working out a deal similar to that of the NHL, where the smaller, less profitable markets are helped out by the rest of the league. Unfortunately, the owners would rather take it out on the workers.

Unfortunately, the people hit most by this will not be the owners or players. It will be the people working for $8 an hour at the arenas who might lose work because of the lockout. I hope the owners keep that in mind as they are thinking about solutions to this situation.